any input on snails?

Question

especially the black mystery snails. i want to get one for my tank, but i'm afraid it will escape or procreate. i have a ten gallon tank with a pleco and tetras.

Answer 1

When it comes to Black Mystery Snails, escape is not an issue. Being aquatic snails, they instinctively stay in the water. Also, as long as the lid is on the tank, tight fitting and with no large gaps around the filter or other openings for equiptment, they would be to large to get out anyway.
Procreation is another matter all together, however. Snails, in general, do breed quite rapidly, and since many species can asexually reproduce, it can become quite a hassle very quickly. If it does become a problem, you can always buy a fish that will eat the baby snails. As long as it's a smaller fish, it should leave the original snail alone. Ask around at your local pet shops to see which species is right for you. You may also want to consider a Gold Inca Snail. These are basically small Apple Snails. For some reason, they don't seem to be quite as prolific as the Black Mysteries. Also, remember that with that pleco in there, a majority of the eggs will get eaten before they hatch.

I hope this was helpful for you!

Answer 2

Depending on the type of snail they can become pests. But the kind you want has to have a mate to procreate. Even if you get more then one they lay their eggs above the water line so its easy to just remove them. Other kinds like Malaysian trumpet snails dont need a mate and give birth to live snails that's why they are considered pest. A lot of people think that snails will clean a tank but they really only eat algae when they are starving, they need food.

Check out http://applesnail.net/ to learn more about different types of snails and what they need.

Answer 3

I have a yellow apple snail in my tank. he is one of my favorites in my tank too. he doesn't try to get out . he is cool and pretty fast for a snail he goes all over the tank and helps keep it clean. I've only had the one and maybe it is a male because he hasn't made any more. Don't know how you would tell the difference when buying one though, I have heard of people having problems with them multiplying. maybe you could sell the babies to the pet store or something. just don't ever put them in a lake or anything to get rid of them or it could cause a big problem for the environment. I also have same size tank, same type fish,, and a chinese algae eater. I give them cucumber slices to eat once in a while. they devour it.. I like them a lot...

Answer 4

If you have a lid for your tank the snail will stay in,but they like to get into the filters. Snails will procreate if you have more than one; but if you want your snail to live long you have to at least have two whether they breed or not... You can always give extra snails away....

Answer 5

snails do procreate, and overnght it seems like. no worries,they have no desire to escape. but since u have plecos, there may not b enough food for the snail. u can but algae disks :) hope that helped

Answer 6

I have the same exact tank size with the same kind of fish. Weird. Anyway I dont like snails because if they die then your whole tank becomes contaminated and the fish might die.

Answer 7

I know of a great website that has info on snails. It is www.kokosgoldfish.com . They not only deal with goldies,tropicals,koi but also have a section of the site that has info on snails.

Answer 8

I know that it seems once you have one all of a sudden hundreds and know matter what you do short of completely starting your tank over (and sometimes that doesn't even work if you use the same rocks) you can't get rid of them.

Get some cute frogs instead. They are quite entertaining and easy to take care of.

Answer 9

Take out the betta for like a day and leave the snail in the tank, then add the betta back the next day, it should be solved

Answer 10

The snail wont have enough food b/c of your other fish.